S&P 500 Futures fade COVID-19 vaccine-led optimism above 3,500

• S&P 500 Futures eases from the record high amid mixed clues.
• US sanctions on China, EU-US trade war and Brexit woes challenge upbeat market sentiment off-late.
• US Health Official Dr. Fauci suggests Moderna’s vaccine to join the league of Pfizer-BioNtech.

S&P 500 Futures consolidate pullback from the all-time high of 3,667.75 around 3,540, down 0.05% intraday, during early Tuesday.

Read: Wall Street Close: Bulls cheer US election results, vaccine hopes

The risk barometer earlier cheer hopes of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, mainly propelled by headlines from Pfizer-BioNTech research. Though, the Sino-American tension joins the trade tussle between the Washington and Brussels to challenge the risks. Reuters came out with the news suggesting that the Trump administration recently levied fresh sanctions on four Chinese officials on the Hong Kong crackdown. On the other hand, the US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer expressed the American dislike for the bloc’s tariff on $4 billion worth of goods.

Further, the UK Government faces disappointment from the House of Lords as the policymakers turned down the proposal to have the Tory team a right to edit the Brexit treaty via the Internal Market Bill (IMB).

Alternatively, US Health official Dr. Anthony Fauci said, in an interview with CNN, that the vaccine is right around the corner. The American health expert also said, “Moderna’s vaccine for covid similar to Pfizer’s, expects results soon.”

Against this backdrop, Japan’s Nikkei and Australia’s ASX 200 flash over 1.0% gains but New Zealand’s NZX 50 bucks the uptrend with 0.20% intraday losses by the time of writing. Further, the US 10-year Treasury yields also defy the previous day’s upside momentum while declining five basis points (bps) to currently around 0.91%.

Looking forward, China’s inflation data for October can offer immediate direction to the global markets while risk catalysts like a vaccine, trade war and US politics, not to forget Brexit, can keep the driver’s seat.